Hey everyone!

I really wanted to share what working in FoldFlow actually looks like in practice. This 90-second clip is a quick highlight edit showing real-time fold workflow on a leather armchair.

For those new here, FoldFlow is a procedural C++ modifier for 3ds Max that lets you draw and adjust cloth folds and leather wrinkles in real-time right inside the viewport.

Gaussian Splat (3DGS) support

New 3D Gaussian Splat (3DGS) support in 3ds Max 2027.2 provides fast rendering, simple editing, and hyper-accurate output.

New Point Object type

Edit 3DGS data or create point data from scratch using the new point data manipulation modifiers and object type.

True Instancing

The new Point Instance modifier enables true render time instancing in 3ds Max and helps you create highly complex scenes from organized data sets.

Smart Bevel Enhancements

Smart Bevel now produces better output with improved speed and reliability.

Arnold and USD updates

3ds Max 2027.2 includes Arnold for 3ds Max (MAXtoA) 5.9.3.0 and USD for 3ds Max 0.16.2

Connect to Flow Studio

Autodesk Flow Studio is a cloud-based AI 3D toolset that seamlessly transforms real-world footage into fully editable, pipeline-ready CG scenes-without the need for complex setups.

OmnibusCloud is a crowdcomputing platform where people pool the idle power of their everyday machines to get real computational work done. It just opened its public beta. Rendering is the first kind of work the network supports, and a 3ds Max integration is part of the opening lineup, alongside Blender. I want to put it in front of people who render for work or for fun, both to offer it and to be told where it falls short.

What's different about it

Every existing way to distribute a Max render needs the full stack on every machine. Backburner needs Max installed everywhere, V-Ray DR needs render node licenses, Deadline just went into maintenance mode with AWS pointing everyone at its paid cloud, and commercial render services charge by the hour.

The OmnibusCloud plugin takes a different route. It never ships your .max file anywhere. It exports the open scene into a neutral, typed scene contract: geometry with full smoothing fidelity, materials, lights, cameras, animation baked frame-exact. Then it uploads that with the texture assets, and the network renders it across many machines.

Those machines run a small client and nothing else. No Max, no renderer licenses, no Windows required. The client works on Windows, Linux, and Apple Silicon Macs. If you're used to the Max world that may sound odd, but a Mac mini or a Linux box quietly rendering your Max scene is normal here. The machines can be the other computers in your studio, your friends' PCs, or the public network.

Back come single frames, animation ranges, tiled high-res stills, or encoded video.

The catch, and you should read it first

The network does not render with your renderer. The neutral scene is rebuilt and rendered with a physically based path tracer (Cycles). The goal is faithful look transfer: the render should read as the image you authored. It is not bit-exact replication. Every release is validated scene by scene against native Max renders, plus blind tests on scenes it has never seen. If your delivery pipeline requires pixel-matching your local V-Ray output, this is not that tool.

Where it fits: draft and preview passes of heavy animations, previz and animatics, lighting and camera iterations you'd rather get overnight than over a weekend, personal and portfolio work, stylized projects. Anywhere "reads right" matters more than "matches to the pixel". For Scanline and Physical-material scenes the transfer is close enough that many will treat it as their final pass.

Renderer by renderer:

• Scanline and Physical/Arnold-material scenes are the fully supported path, including Scanline's non-physical quirks (additive specular blowouts, screen-mapped backdrops, no-GI self-illumination). Those are emulated by documented rules rather than ignored.
• V-Ray has dedicated support, approximate by design. VRayMtl maps to a neutral PBR surface. VRayLight, VRaySun, dome-HDRI environments and physical-camera exposure carry over, and scanned fabric materials can be baked locally with your own V-Ray before upload. Procedural V-Ray maps and tone-mapping curves don't translate yet.
• Corona, Octane, Redshift: untested. The exporter takes a safe viewport read, no fidelity promised.
• Not supported yet: volumetrics, particles/hair, deep procedural map trees, animated visibility, XRef scenes.

One thing I made sure of: nothing fails silently. Everything the exporter approximates or can't carry leaves a named diagnostic at export. Which feature, which objects by name, what to do about it. The full feature matrix lives in the repo as Capabilities & Known Limitations, kept honest release by release.

What's in the box

• An OmnibusCloud menu inside Max with themed render/export/settings dialogs (follows your dark/light theme), live upload progress and cancellation.
• Fast scene capture. Bulk-read, multi-core, so heavy scenes export in seconds.
• Signed MSI installer, per-user or per-machine, built for 3ds Max 2027.
• A bonus that stands on its own: the Export dialog can hand you back your scene as a self-contained .blend file with all textures packed. A Max to Blender converter, if that's all you want from it.
• The plugin and the render components are open source (MIT), built on public NuGet packages. The repo doubles as a reference for anyone who wants to build their own integration: github.com/OmnibusCloud/3ds-Max. The scene contract itself is DCC-agnostic, Max is just the first host. An exporter from Maya, Cinema 4D or Houdini would ride the same pipeline.

There's also a step-by-step getting started guide with screenshots.

What I'm asking for

Scenes that render differently are exactly the input this beta needs. If you try it and the network render doesn't read like your native render, open an issue with the plugin version, the scene or a description of the material and lighting involved, and both renders if you can share them. The validation corpus grew out of reports like that.

And if you have a couple of machines around the office or friends with idle PCs, you can create a private group on the portal and render across them tonight. That's the fastest way to see whether this is useful to you.

I'll be in the comments and will answer technical questions in as much detail as you want.

Hi!

I've lost access to max and I just need my Max file for my characters exported to FBX with all elements.

Could anyone help me with that? The files are Max 2017 files. I only need someone to open them, export to FBX, include everything, boom. There are 3 files I need converted.

Thanks!

I know the basics of 3D modeling, but I get really confused when I try to model more complex furniture like this.

Where should I start if I want to learn this kind of hard-surface/furniture modeling? I'd also love some recommendations for specific YouTube channels or courses that can help me improve my modeling skills and understand the workflow better.

Having this weird issue all of the sudden with fstorm shading. Just a simple fstorm sun and a teapot primitive. Tried everything:

Checking mesh, ray threshold, normals, scene scale, with HDRI, light samples, reinstalling the software, drivers (older versions too) and even reinstalling windows. Nothing works.

I tried posting on Fstorm facebook page, since thats where the developer is more active but no response since. I know its a long shot in the subredit but its driving me nuts.

I'm on 5070ti and intel 13700k. Corona and vray gpu work fine.

( i am new to this industry)

This is quite strange. I have almost never had any trouble importing FBX models into 3D Studio Max, this one included. It has imported, many times, in the past. But then something came up that required me to start a new scene with a new import, and suddenly it no longer works. What's weirder is that it goes through the motions of working. The import menu comes up, as does a warning about parts that are not part of the bindpose definition (but these don't usually wreck things) and Max doesn't freeze...but the model doesn't import. No loading, no greying out, no progress bar, no references to new models in a scene hierarchy, no nothing. It's like Max thinks it imported it but didn't.

Anyone else experienced this? How is it solved?

I recently upgraded from 2013 to 2026 and am shocked at how laggy everything is. I'm a low poly game dev, and my computer is quite beefy so I can't imagine that's the problem.

Every operation causes Max to slightly hang, especially when adding or removing modifiers. Is this a common issue? Do I have things enabled I shouldn't?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m familiar with Swift Loop, but it doesn’t quite provide the workflow I’m after. The main problem is that when I hold Shift to add multiple evenly spaced edge loops, it automatically activates Set Flow, which alters the mesh’s shape. I’m looking for a way to insert multiple loops evenly while keeping the original surface intact.

I’ve also experimented with the Connect tool, but since it requires selecting an edge ring beforehand, it feels less efficient compared to Blender’s Ctrl+R or Maya’s Insert Edge Loop/Multi-Cut, where you can simply hover over the mesh and interactively add one or more loops.

Does anyone know of a script, plugin, or alternative method in 3ds Max that offers a similar experience? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey guys,

I'd really appreciate your advice and experiences.

I'm about 6 months into learning 3D modeling, and I've been using Maya so far. The industries I'm aiming for are VFX and product visualization, so I'm trying to make the best decision early on.

Recently I've been wondering if I'm missing out on workflows that other softwares might offer, especially 3ds Max with its non destructive modifier stack.

For those of you who have used both, does it actually make a noticeable difference in day to day modeling? Has it changed the way you work or made things easier, or is it not as big of a deal as people make it out to be?

I'm just trying to learn as much as I can before I settle on a workflow. Thanks in advance! 🙂

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for feedback specifically on the lighting in this interior render. It's made in 3ds Max with Corona Renderer. The only exterior light sources I'm using are a Corona Sun and Corona Sky, and inside the room I have two lamps and some decorative wall lights. I'm aiming for a cozy, warm atmosphere, but I've been struggling with the lighting because the scene almost always looks too dark unless I increase the exposure.

I'd really appreciate any advice on the lighting setup, exposure, color temperature, balance, or anything else that could help achieve a realistic, cozy look. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I'm trying to render a model I created, but every time I try, the video turns out dark—as if there's an effect applied or there's no lighting. Can anyone help me?

i have an educational license and im confused if i can with the non commercial license or no, also how can i contact autodesk about that?

Hello, after reinstaling Licensing, cant connect to server. It shows that my email dont have active license. Support innactive. Any solutions?

Most render improvements people talk about involve buying something — a new renderer, a new asset library, a new machine. This one costs nothing and takes about two minutes per project.
Keep a personal reference folder, organized by lighting condition.
Not mood boards. Not Pinterest saves. A folder of your own approved renders, sorted by the type of light they contain: overcast exterior, golden hour, bright interior with indirect daylight, artificial night lighting, and so on.

Every time a client approves a render you are genuinely happy with, drop a full-resolution copy into the relevant folder before you close the project.

Why it helps:

When you start a new project in similar lighting conditions, you open that folder before touching a single setting. You are not guessing from memory — you are looking at a concrete result you already achieved and can reproduce. Camera exposure, light multipliers, sky model choice, the rough balance between artificial and natural sources — it is all visible in the image. You work forward from a known point instead of backward from a bad first test.

Over 18 years and more than a thousand projects, the single biggest source of wasted render time I have observed is not hardware or software — it is relearning the same lighting setup from scratch on every job because nothing was retained from the last one.

This habit does not replace good technical knowledge. It compounds it. Each project you finish well becomes a calibration point for the next one.

The folder gets more useful the longer you maintain it. A year in, you have a personal lighting library that reflects your actual renderer, your actual assets, your actual output targets — not someone else's tutorial scene.

If you already do something similar, curious how you organize it. If you don't, worth trying on your next approval.